WASHINGTON – As congressional Democrats prepare to give the Federal Communications Commission its toughest scrutiny in years, a rivalry between the powerful agency’s two most prominent Republicans is raising questions about its readiness to handle barbed questions and stiff challenges.
The Republican-controlled FCC, which makes far-reaching decisions on telephone, television, radio, Internet and other services that people use daily, has sparred infrequently with Republican-controlled congresses. But the Democratic-run 110th Congress is about to heat the grill, starting with a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing Thursday.
Senators vow to press the chairman and four commissioners on matters such as media-ownership diversity, Internet access, broadcast decency standards and delays in resolving various issues. The agency is likely to face a tone of questioning unseen in recent years.
“They’ve effectively emasculated any public-interest standards that existed” for radio and TV stations, said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., a committee member who plans sharp questions on decency, media consolidation and other topics. “The entire Congress for years now has been devoid of any kind of oversight,” he said, and the new Democratic majority is launching a process that will force the FCC to “beat a path to Capitol Hill to respond.”
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., a senior House Commerce Committee member, said he plans “comprehensive hearings on net neutrality” later this year. The term refers to measures barring telephone and cable service providers from charging Web companies for priority access to the Internet, bans which Markey supports and FCC Republican members generally oppose.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, a Republican with close ties to the Bush administration, will be the focus of Democrats’ criticisms. But some industry analysts think those lawmakers may try to find an ally in Commissioner Robert McDowell, a Republican loyalist who has clashed with Martin on at least three significant issues in the past several months.
The FCC’s commissioners – currently three Republicans and two Democrats – are appointed by the president, confirmed by the Senate, and allowed to operate largely independently of one another. Intra-agency and intra-party feuds are not uncommon. Many analysts noted that Martin clashed with former chairman and fellow Republican Michael Powell.
Martin, 40, and McDowell, 43, clashed before McDowell arrived at the FCC in June. McDowell, a former lawyer for small companies that compete against large telecommunications companies, has opposed proposals to require that small cable companies carry additional digital broadcast channels, an issue Martin hoped to bring to a vote.
The two subsequently tangled on other issues, most notably the $85 billion acquisition by AT&T of BellSouth, approved by the FCC last month.
Martin, McDowell and their colleagues may need all the camaraderie and cohesion they can muster at next week’s hearing. With Democrats now in control of Congress, Dorgan said, “the running room of the FCC is going to be limited.”
